Improved chuck for turning staves



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRANCIS ROBBINS,-OF ACTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVED CHUCK FOR TURNING STAVES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 39,l73,dated July 7, 1863.

To all whom t may concern:

Beit known that l, FRANCIS RoBBINs, of Acton, in the county of Middlesex and State ot'Massaehu-setts, have invented an Improved Chuck for Holding the Staves of Kegs while being Turned; and I hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making part of this specification, in which- Figure l is a perspective view of my improved chuck, representing the manner of holding the staves. Fig. 2 is avert-ical section on the line x w of Fig. l.

I am aware that the staves'of kegs, &c., have been arranged around a form or mandrel, and after the hoops were put on, the keg,

-having been caused to revolve, has been smoothed oif with a iile or chisel; but this method was liable to the objection that it left ridges of wood under the hoops, and the work was not performed in a perfect and satisfactory manner.

The object of my invention is to avoid this difficulty; and it consists in an improved chuck or holder by which the staves are held in place after the hoops are removed, and the keg being put into a lathe, its exterior surface can be turned off true and smooth as required, and the hoops then be replaced.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will now proceed to describe the manner in which I have carried it out.

In the drawings, A are the staves,V surrounded by the hoops B. NVithin the center of the space inclosed by the keg passes the iron shaft or mandrel C, having two circular heads thereon. The lower head, D, is fastened permanently to the shaft, while the upper one, E, is made to slide on the shaft, and by means of a spring, a, which surrounds the shaft, the proper adaptation of the two heads D and E with the interior surface of the staves is effected. Two outside heads, F and G, with holds through their centers, are slid on the opposite ends of the shaft, and their inner faces, near their peripheries, are beveled to fit a corresponding bevel on the extremities ot' the staves, as seen in Fig. 2. These heads are made to fit iirmly the ends of the staves, after the hoops are removed, by means of the nuts b b, which work on screw-threads cut on the extremities of the shaft (l, so as to clamp the heads F and G against the ends of the staves, and hold them in the same position that they were held before .the hoops were removed.

Operation: The staves are set up within the hoops in the order in which they stand in the finished keg. The hoops are then loosened so as to allow the mandrel, with the heads D and E, to be inserted. The hoops are now tightened. The heads are made adjustable, so as to it properly the interior surface of the staves by compressing the spring a between them. The staves are next put into a lathe, and their ends are turned oft' to the required bevel. The heads F and G are next slid on the ends of the shaft C, and the nuts b b being screwed on, their inner beveled faces embrace the ends of the staves and hold them firmly in the position required for turning. The hoops are now removed, and in this stage the staves are placed in a lathe where their exterior surfaces are turned oft' smooth. It is now taken ont of the lathe in order to remove the heads F and G, when it is replaced in the lathe to undergo the process -of turning the croze at each end.

What I cla-im as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The heads F and G, in combination with the shaft G and nuts b, or their equivalents, arranged and operating in the manner substantially as set forth, for the purpose specified.

FRANCIS ROBBINS.

Witnesses:

P. E. 'lEscIIEr/IACIIER, N. W. STEARNs. 

